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History of Corellia
Since the gods first discovered the strange rip in the Material Plane, which they named Corellia, there have been four distinct ages of history; the Ordering, the Age of Founding and the Age of Stradera and the Shattering. The Ordering The Ordering was the first age of Corellia. During this time, the gods ordered the elemental rift that became Corellia and empowered the most prominent races of the land Sealing the Rift Astral observers serving Ioun discovered a strange tear in the fabric of the Material Plane, this tear was filled with roiling lava and crashings waves battered by intense winds carrying vast swaths of earth and stone. Fearing the destruction of the Material Plane should these elemental energies escape this rift, Ioun, alongside four other divine powers, Moradin, Corellon, Bahamut, and Gruumsh created a new plane of existence, similar to that of the existing Material Plane to act as a plug for the elemental tear. This worked for a time until elemental powers began to break through the fragile lands that locked them beneath the fledgling world. The Reordering After many thousands of years Ioun, Corellon and Bahamut returned to the plane and found it once again in strife, titanic creatures of stone walked the earth, carving mountains and canyons deep into the earth, creatures of water had formed vast oceans, and swaths of fire were erupting and creating islands. Fearing that the elements would break through their seal, the three divine powers ordered the world once again, this time creating four Elemental Pillars to prevent the elements from breaking through the gateway again and empowered survivors of this elemental strife to safeguard these pillars from the many creatures that already existed based on the blueprint they had used from the Material Plane. Ioun empowered the humans, who inhabited the lands that would eventually become Iouneth, Faranar, and the Straderan Isles as well as those that lived within the fledgling kingdom of Kozakura. Corellon empowered the elves, who laid claim to many of the same lands as the humans as well as those that dwelt within both Corellia's Feywild and Shadowlands, known as the Eladrin and Shadar-Kai, respectively. Bahamut empowered the great metallic dragons of southern Faranar, who in turn would empower chosen champions of the dragonborn. Betrayal Gruumsh and Moradin discovered that Corellia had been reordered without their knowledge and became furious at Ioun, standing before her and demanding an explanation for her actions. She explained that there was little time to locate them after discovering the unrest on Corellia, now named after Corellon, and that she acted in the universe's best interest. Moradin accepted this answer, and with Ioun's permission gave his blessing to the giant Ymir, who would grow to command all giants within the kingdom of Ymirjar. While Moradin was satisfied with her answer, Gruumsh was not, and behind the backs of Corellia's other creators, he empowered the orcs of Corellia, who led a bloody crusade against the inhabitants of Faranar, eventually claiming almost the entire continent as their own under the banner of a savage orcish empire. The Age of Founding The Age of Founding was the second age of Corellia, lasting about two thousand years. During this time the races of Corellia would build prosperous nations in the lands not touched by the orcs, sowing the seeds for what would become grand empires. Fledgling Powers Refugees from Faranar began to flood into the islands of the Ocean of Fahran, settling on these islands they found prosperity by facilitating trade between the Kozakurans and the fledgling kingdom of Iouneth in the northeast. The refugees built a powerful kingdom on the largest of these islands around the city of Ravenmoore, their culture became a melting pot of the traditional kingdoms of Faranar and Iouneth and the Trade Kingdom of Kyouma in Kozakura. Eventually noble houses would rise to prominence in the kingdom, House Godefroi of the Faranar Refugees, House Darcrest of the Iounian Immigrants, and House Takahashi of Kyouma's immigrants. The dragonborn, under the protection of Tiberion, were the only ones to survive against the onslaught of orcs from the north, building a great wall called the Dîwarê, or Dragon Wall, remaining largely neutral in the affairs of the world, following the guidance of the metallic dragons and the teachings of Bahamut. All colors of dragonborn would travel to hear the words of the great silver dragon, Tiberion, believed to be a direct speaker for Bahamut. They founded a massive kingdom known as Goldoa in the lush lands south of the Arak Mountains and in the center of the great, rolling hills of this land they founded the city of Zaketa, near the home of the great Tiberion. The Goldoans slowly expanded over the next two thousand years, building a beautiful and prosperous kingdom with Tiberion's guidance. The lands Ioun had reshaped for herself were largely untouched by Gruumsh's betrayal. On this land one kingdom arose following the doctrines of the Knowing Mistress, this kingdom became known as Iouneth and was home to some of the most powerful mages and arcanists in the world. The Kozakuran's were split on whether to remain isolated during the orcish occupation, eventually splitting the continent into two kingdoms, the Imperial Order of Ryoshima who remained isolationist, and the small trading kingdom of Kyouma on the northern volcanic islands which fostered trade with many of their emigrants aiding in the growth of the Straderan Merchant Kingdom. Many of Ryoshima's monastic orders built large satellite monasteries in the Yamata Mountains, that occupied much of the western side of the continent, these monasteries existed independant of Ryoshima, following monastic codes set by the largest of the monasteries Shou-Lung. The orcs that had taken over all of Faranar had unified under the blessings of Gruumsh, founding a great orcish empire that they named Orgazzar. These orcs followed whichever warrior was the most powerful and leadership changed often, clans splintered into their own territory and would often fight amongst each other. While the orcs may have held claim upon all the territory within Orgazzar, they did not command it entirely, as the Runefire Clan fought with the kingdom of Ymirjar, led by the eternal king of giants, Ymir. Outside Forces During this period of growth, creatures from the Abyss and the Nine Hells were drawn to this new plane of existence, seeing it as a foothold to lay siege to their enemies in the astral plane and beyond, they began to send their servants into Corellia to sow chaos and convert its people to their lords. These invasions were noticed by other deities that had been monitoring the Blood War who began to step in, coming to the dreams of mortal creatures on Corellia and creating clerics that would spread their influence against the demons and devils, as well as nature deities curious about the elemental strife blocked by this new plane who would empower animal spirits to watch over the lands. By the end of the prosperous age of founding, nearly every deity that had followers on the original Material Plane had gained a following somewhere on Corellia. However, not all deities that came to Corellia were benevolent. The arrival of Tharizdun spelled disaster for the kingdom of Iouneth, cults in his name ate away at the kingdom from the inside out, until five crusaders rose up, directly blessed by Ioun and imprisoned the dark god. This left Iouneth irreparably fractured and the Crusaders split to rule the four smaller kingdoms that took its place; Valsora, Voldosha, Veseria, and Teldath. The Age of Stradera The Age of Stradera was the third age of Corellia, lasting 1,500 years. During this time, Stradera would go to war with Orgazzar to reclaim their homeland and begin the expansion of their empire, Iouneth would also witness an attempted reunification under Voldoshan rule near the end of the era but these attempts would fail. The Fall of Orgazzar Straderan traders had grown up for several generations on stories of the rolling hills and vast mountain ranges of their ancestral home of Faranar, having garnered a large sphere of influence due to their trading empire that had grown to begin to encompass all of the islands surrounding their original landing spot at Ravenmoore, they sought to gather allies to finally reclaim their ancestral home. They reached out to both Goldoa and Iouneth for aid in retaking their homes. The isolationist Goldoans refused to send aid but soldiers from Voldosha were willing to aid in the war and sent troops to aid the Straderan cause. When the combined fighting forces of Stradera and Voldosha landed on the shores of Orgazzar they were met with fierce orcish combatants, however, due to the constant infighting of orcish leaders, the technically superior armies of Stradera laid waste to the orcs in the first years of the war. When the Bonemarch Clan was nearly wiped out, the remaining orcs assembled under a single warchief and began to push back. The armies reached a stalemate along the border between captured Bonemarch territory and the territory of the Runefire Clan. The armies sent another request to Goldoa for aid, which was this time answered and the orcs were flanked along their southern border. Eventually, the orc armies were forced into the Giant's Pass from both the north and south and were forced to surrender. From the Ashes With the fall of Orgazzar, the Straderans laid claim to all of the land north of the Giant's Pass as the beginnings of the great Straderan Empire, as a reward for their aid the Voldoshan soldiers were granted the territory of the Runefire Clan, which they called Selia. The Selians pledged their support for the new empire and joined the Straderan colony of Ostiria as states of the empire. However, the Selians first had to contend with the declining kingdom of Ymirjar, a pact was made between the first King of Selia and the Eternal King Ymir and the nation of Selia was founded on the lands between Ostiria and the Kingdom of Ymirjar. On the south side of the Giant's Pass, the aarakocra slaves that spent millennia under brutal orcish rule founded their own society in the plains north of Goldoa. Calling their new home Arak, meaning free in their own tongue, they also pledged themselves to the Straderan Empire, many of them becoming integral to the empire's growth acting as messengers and mail carriers. The Aether Nihilum Little is known about this era of history. (This means a campaign might go here) The Shattering The Shattering was the fourth age of Corellia, marked as the great empires that controlled the world slowly broke apart following the disappearance of Iouneth. Goldoa was the first to break apart, and over the next 1,000 years, the magical and technological prosperity of Corellia was ripped apart by war and violence. Madness of Tiberion The disappearance of Iouneth shook the world of Corellia to its very core, and the massive arcane storm left in its wake did little to comfort those remaining on the planet's surface. The great silver dragon, Tiberion, scion of Bahamut himself, flew out from his lair to investigate the arcane storm and vanished for nearly 20 years. When he finally returned he was not himself, seemingly driven mad by what he encountered in the storm. The leaders of Goldoa were divided on how to deal with his madness and the once great nation slowly broke apart as Tiberion's wrath destroyed much of the kingdom within the river valley, save for the capital of Zaketa, which was fortified by the black dragonborn who, with heavy hearts, managed to slay Tiberion and protect their homeland. This earned the ire of the remaining Goldoans and the black dragonborn that participated were exiled to the swamps of Thazarus. The remaining dragonborn slowly discovered the repurcussions of Tiberion's death as the fertile river valley they called home was transformed into a vast desert. The bronze dragonborn chose to remain in the desert and founded the nation of Shivaria, while the blue dragonborn traveled north into the mountains and founded the nation of Quadour, the remaining gold dragonborn, nearly wiped out by Tiberion, traveled to the southern isles and founded the nation of Thesal. These nations also formed the Council of Three, a group of delegates that would negotiate on behalf of Goldoa internationally, and who hoped that Goldoa could one day reunify. Three Houses Little is known about the finer details of the Grand War as much of its documentation was destroyed during the fighting. Only that the death of Emperor Victor Godefroi III left the empire with no clear heir and the uncertainty surrounding both the disappearance of Iouneth and the observed splintering of the Goldoan kingdom led the three major noble houses of the empire to go to war for the throne, and the decisions made therein crumbled the once mighty empire. (This means a campaign might go here) Ymirjar Crumbles Following the end of the Grand War, Selia was no longer part of the mighty Straderan Empire and rightfully feared the giants living on her western border. The Selian army broke the pact that they had made with the Eternal King and marched into the giant's territory. Seeking only to present a show of force and ensure that the giants would remain within their borders. Enraged by the assumption that his people were too stupid to understand the deal they had made, Ymir challenged their king, Fódlan Alehammer, to a duel and after 14 days of fighting, Ymir was struck down and with no unified leader to guide them, the giant clans turned once again to their ancient ways of infighting and war, and the mighty kingdom of Ymirjar fell to ruin. Fódlan however, chose not to occupy the giant's territory out of respect for Ymir and the lands once held by the giants, while technically under Selia's flag, would brook no entry from any nation under threat of the king's ire. The World Order Pact Since the Shattering, the world has maintained a semblance of peace over the last 375 years of the new Corellian calendar. In the wake of the Shattering, the World Order Pact was signed, forming a council that would meet every 100 years to negotiate and discuss foreign relations across Corellia, in the hope that an event like the Shattering would never occur again.